The Secret is Finally Out!

As of last night at 4:00pm we are officially home owners!! For the past many painful months we have been house hunting...looking at house after house after house. It was getting very tiring and very depressing. We received automatic emails everytime a new house went on the market in the areas we had specified and it felt like we had looked at hundreds. We had specific things we wanted, like at least 4 bedrooms for example, and everything we looked at just wasn't at all what we were looking for. Then one day we decided to go back to the first house we had originally looked at and we decided we really liked it. So we made an offer. During the very long "making an offer" process we both squirmed and felt a little uneasy. Later that night we prayed harder than ever before that if this house wasn't where we were suppose to be to please put something in our way. After we were through praying i got up to check my email one last time before shutting my computer down for the night. As i sat down and looked at the screen i watched as 1 new email popped up in my inbox. It was a house. I clicked on it to delete it because we had JUST made an offer on a house, why would i look at more...when something told me just to look at it. So i opened it up and it was located in Anthem. (For those of you familiar with Las Vegas you know how far south Anthem is) We ruled out Anthem when we first started looking at houses because it was too far away from my parents, but something about this house grabbed my attention. I told Seth to come over to the computer and both our jaws dropped open as we took a virtual tour of the place. It had a beautiful brick driveway and pretty rock on parts of the house, it was built only one year ago, it had 4 bedrooms, 2500 sq ft, the kitchen was JUST what we were looking for-dark granite with all stainless steel appliances, and right off the master bedroom was a huge balcony the entire length of the house... with a strip view! And those were just a couple of the perks! We were in LOVE. Seth immediately printed out directions to the house and we jumped in the car and started driving. It really wasn't that far! It was only a 25 minute drive and when we pulled into the driveway we both sat there for no longer than 30 seconds before we were scrambling for the phone to call our realtor. The very next morning we went to see the house. We started out walking through it and before we realized it we were running around and shouting out all the things we loved! We knew it. This was where we wanted to be. So we withdrew the offer on the previous house and immediately drew up an offer on this one. Now, it was a foreclosure (of COURSE) and so we were working with a bank, so we didn't think we would hear back on our offer for at least a couple weeks. AND since we made the offer on the first day it listed we were really nervous this was just going to be a big painful flop.

Seth was really swamped at work so he hardly had 2 min. to worry about the house...but me on the other hand, i had plenty of time to go through all of the emotions. The minute our offer was submitted i hit my knees. I prayed and talked to my Father in Heaven like never before. I told Him how i was nervous and scared, but how at the same time the house felt so right. Every spare moment i had that i wasn't with Nics i would pray...and it was kind of interesting...i wasn't praying FOR the house...i was praying for us to be guided and to be where we were supposed to be. It was such an amazing experience, i still had all the anxiety and fears but i was at peace. Well, Monday morning came and you'll NEVER guess what we found out. Our realtor called and told us the bank called him! It had only been barely 2 business days! Anyway, the bank told him they had 3 other offers besides ours...BUT they had taken them off the table and ours was the only one left! They needed another 24 hours to think about it but they just wanted to let us know where they were at. We were STUNNED! The house had ONLY been on the market for ONE day and there were FOUR offers submitted!! We then started realizing what a steal of a deal we'd be getting if they accepted our offer. Before us, this house was bought for $536,000! (WHOA!!) Now because of the foreclosures it was going for significantly lower!!

Well...two days later i was sitting at home with Nics and the phone rang. It was the realtor. I just stared at my ringing phone knowing that the decision had been made...my stomach was tight and my heart was racing. When i said 'hello' our realtor asked me how i was. I thought for sure he was trying to cushion me for a sad blow....but then he said, "Brandi, they accepted your offer!" I started bawling instantly and felt such a warm comfort feeling flood over me. I knew we were led to this house. It was a painfully emotional process but Heavenly Father was with us the whole way, He was so aware of US. It was such a beautiful moment. As soon as i hung up the phone the first thing i did was grab Nics and we had a prayer. We thanked our Father in Heaven for being there for us, and for helping us through this important time in our lives. It was so special. As soon as we were finished i immediately started calling Seth but he was in class! I left him a message to call me asap. When he finally called me back we couldn't contain our excitement, it was such an amazing moment.

We have been blessed so very much and we feel so inadequate and undeserving of all the love and guidance we have felt from our Savior. Blessings are being poured down from the heavens in every aspect of our lives right now...we are so full of gratitude and love for our dear Savior and Father...it's so overwhelming. The last couple months have been so hard in so many ways, but we have learned that as we include our Father in Heaven and literally MAKE Him a part of our lives that even when it's hard, He will carry us through it all and shower us with blessings as we endure to the end. This is such an exciting time in our lives! Last night we went out and celebrated, then we went up to OUR new home (hehe...i like saying that...hehe) and took a couple of fun pictures. We couldn't get a picture of the outside because it was dark, but more pictures will be coming soon! :)

We're signing for our FIRST home!! (we got to keep the pens! hehe.)

We are celebrating at the Cheesecake Factory! Seth made the cute little 'Cheesecake display' with our keys...he's adorable!

We're walking into "our home" for the first time!

Love-Love-Love the kitchen!!

Nicci LOVES the new place...especially the stairs!!

I LOVE our bathtub...yep LOVE it!

yes...i'm dancing in our new tub!

Seth parked our car in the garage for the FIRST time!! And now he is placing our FIRST item in our garage! ...

...Our little gas can!!

We have a garage!!

Now all the fun begins...painting, packing, cleaning, moving...AH!! Home Depot here we come!